SQL Server Database Mail Setup

SQL Server Database Mail Setup: An Overview

Database Mail in SQL Server

The database mail feature was introduced in SQL Server 2005 by Microsoft. This feature is also available in SQL Server 2008 and 2012. Before Database mail, we have SQL Mail feature in Sql Server 2000.

Database Mail is more reliable, secure, and faster than SQL Mail in SQL Server 2000. SQL Mail is based on MAPI (Messaging Application Programming Interface) whereas Database Mail is based on SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. Moreover, database mail uses a service broker service and this service needs to be enabled for Database Mail.

By default, SQL Database mail is not enabled. We can enable this feature by using a system-defined stored procedure, configuration manager, or Database Mail Wizard. I am sharing both the tricks to enable this feature.

Steps for SQL Server Database Mail Setup

We can configure SQL Database mail in the following steps by using the Database mail wizard as shown below.

1. Create a Profile and Account

In the first step, we will create a profile and account by using the Configure Database Mail Wizard as shown below.

A profile can have multiple email accounts. It can be of two types.

1. Public Profile

A public profile can be accessed by any users and these users will have the ability to send emails.

2. Private Profile

A private profile is only accessed by granted users and only these users can send emails.

2. Configure Database Mail

After successfully creating of Profile and Account, we will configure the Database Mail using the system-defined stored procedure “sp_configure ” as shown below.

GO 
sp_CONFIGURE Database Mail XPs', 1 
GO 
RECONFIGURE 

3. Send Test Mail

We can send test mail by using the wizard and T-SQL statement as shown below.

Using Wizard

Using T-SQL Statement

USE msdb 
GO 
EXEC sp_send_dbmail @profile_name='Shailendra Chauhan Profile', @recipients='shailendra@ymail.com', @subject='Database Mail Test', @body= ‘This is a test e-mail sent from Database Mail' 

4. Check Your Inbox

After sending test mail, you need to check the mail received in your inbox. I received the mail "Database Mail Test" in my inbox as shown below:

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Summary

In this article, I try to explain how to set up SQL Database Mail in SQL Server with an example. I hope after reading this article you will know how to configure SQL Database Mail in SQL Server. I would like to have feedback from my blog readers. Please post your feedback, questions, or comments about this article.

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